THE EDITOR, Sir:
ALL OVER the world today, there are people who hate the United States but do they have real cause, or are they just demonising it for whatever reason they find convenient? Let's be honest. Give credit where credit is due.
Maybe it's time to revisit George H. England's stunning, 1963 novel, The Ugly American.
Almost a half-century ago, at least for this one member of the now-forsaken, Boomer generation, it was an eye-opening expose of Americans overseas, their worst character flaws, their hypocrisy and lies, and their self-centered arrogance.
Maybe it's time someone had the courage to write a newer version, no doubt it would be even more stunning, and call it 'The Ugliest American'. It would be the story of recent U.S. administration foreign policy, subtitled 'How we used a sports slogan to conquer the world' or 'Democracy at the point of a gun' and written about the Bush dynasty and its gang of inept, musical-chair bureaucrats.
So, have we changed any, for better or worse in all that time?
Is the best defence, really a good offence? You must admit we're still a little too 'in your face', aren't we?
I am, etc.,
ED MCCOY
Bokeelia, Florida
Via Go-Jamaica
